Setting: London

London (England >> Britain >> Europe )
See also my Places visited in Books map.
The capital city of England, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. It is the most populous city in the United Kingdom, with a metropolitan area of over 13 million inhabitants

Told from a variety of point of views, and interspersed with flashbacks this book starts off with an affair that turns into an alleged rape. Sophie is married to James, the man accused in this case. Kate is the prosecuting barrister. One believes him guilty and will do everything to secure a conviction. The other […]

Added to Mount TBR in March 2018 – I came across this book as it was longlisted for the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize. It sounded interesting It is a strange book in a way. Sort of a biography, sort of a book about drug addiction, but more a book about dealing with other people and […]

There is really very little to say about this film. It was entertaining enough while watching it, but it wasn’t a gripping or wildly entertaining film. Perfectly suitable for a dreary wet afternoon’s entertainment. It made me laugh in a couple of places, and I always like Brendan Gleeson in any role1 So yeah, I’m […]

Trudy has betrayed her husband, John. She’s still in the marital home – a dilapidated, priceless London townhouse – but not with John. Instead, she’s with his brother, the profoundly banal Claude, and the two of them have a plan. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month-old resident of Trudy’s womb. […]

Small Change ; book three. Peter Carmichael is commander of the Watch, Britain’s distinctly British secret police. It’s his job to warn the Prime Minister of treason, to arrest plotters, and to discover Jews. The midnight knock of a Watchman is the most dreaded sound in the realm. Now, in 1960, a global peace conference […]

Upon her arrival in London, an 18-year-old Irish girl begins anew as a drama student, with all the hopes of any young actress searching for the fame she’s always dreamed of. She struggles to fit in—she’s young and unexotic, a naive new girl—but soon she forges friendships and finds a place for herself in the […]

Small Change : book 2 In 1949, eight years after the “Peace with Honor” was negotiated between Great Britain and Nazi Germany by the Farthing Set, England has completed its slide into fascist dicatorship. Then a bomb explodes in a London suburb. The brilliant but politically compromised Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard is assigned the […]

Does religious belief outweigh the fight for survival? and if the one battling for life is a child, who gets to rule on what is, and isn’t, right? In The Children Act McEwan raises this question. Judge Fiona Maye is called upon to judge the case of a Jehovah’s Witness child who needs a blood […]

Sherlock Holmes #1, available on gutenberg. In 1881, after returning from Afghanistan Doctor John Watson is in need of rest and recuperation. He is also in need of a place to live, and preferably a house mate to share the cost. Living in London is expensive. An old school friend introduces Watson to Sherlock Holmes […]

Another one from Mount TBR, recommended by Ellie of Curiosity killed the Bookworm. Kate is running away from her life. The stress of her life in Dublin has prompted some sort of a breakdown, or a burnout, she wants a complete break from that. So here she is, in Somerset, in an eventing yard, trying […]

I liked this film. I thought everything about it was well done. The performances were great. The story and writing was good. The direction and look of the film, it all worked. But it felt a bit flat to me. Also, and maybe I’m missing something, but I expected the story to reflect the title […]